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Yemen: COVID-19 supply challenges provoke short-term alternative solutions

Six years of conflict have decimated Yemen’s public health system, with only about half of Yemen’s medical facilities still functioning. The health system can no longer meet the needs of the vulnerable people who need it most.

Unlike other epidemics Yemen has faced in the past, the novel coronavirus presents unprecedented challenges – in terms of movement constraints for staff and supplies, and in terms of global supply shortages, particularly of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is essential for health workers already struggling to cope with limited resources.

To reduce the risks of people contracting and spreading COVID-19, MSF teams have been compelled to produce personal protective gear by hand using locally-available materials. However, it should be said that this is an incomplete and temporary solution, as the protective masks and aprons are not suitable for medical staff handling core medical tasks, while the depleting stocks of primary materials mean that these efforts to respond to the PPE shortage may be short-lived.

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